Being Fired From My First Job After Just 3 Months Was Humiliating But Also Liberating

Accomplishing targets, getting settled and having good salary goals! This is what defines most of our lives today. In order to survive in this competitive world, social media is what we are left with, in the name of a ‘personal life’.

After getting bored with my utterly slow paced life, which I had chosen on my own, I decided to start working. Having an inclination towards writing, I applied to various companies in Delhi as a content writer and finally got a call from an animation company. After giving a thought, I decided to go for the interview. That was my second call for an interview after I decided to dodge the one at Noida due to my sheer lazy nature and huge distance from my home. So speaking about my second interview call, it was around 6 in the evening and I was just about to prepare tea for my mom. Just then the phone rang. A smart bold voice of a woman who seemed in her early forties was on the other side of the call. She gave me the details about the interview and fixed an appointment the next day.

The next morning, like every other individual I too woke up a little anxious and a little nervous. “What are they going to ask?” Going through their website, I wondered, “Ohh it’s an animation company, what if I cannot answer any of their questions?”“Should I carry any of my writing samples with me?” A lot of questions popped in my mind instantly.

I reached out my study table, took out a large dusty file which contained pieces of my writing since the time I was in college. Among the dust, I started searching if I had written anything remotely related to animation or anything that made sense. And yes! I found something. A review I had written about Pixar’s animated movie, “Brave”. Perfect!

“What else do I need?” I cheerfully muttered to myself. After spending an hour on typing the article, I got a print of it on my way to the interview. The company was located on the second floor of a giant building. I stepped into the building, and soon reached at the doorstep of the company with the help of the same woman who had initially called me. Surprisingly on reaching there, I found that she was the one who was supposed to take my interview. On entering the cabin, the first question I asked her was, “Are you the one to whom I have been talking to since yesterday? ” “Yes,” she replied. Her bold familiar voice made me realise that she was the same person I have been talking to since the first call. But what surprised me was the fact that she looked almost my age. Or maybe a year or two older. But not like I had imagined a woman in her forties.

Cool. She was my age. She didn’t seem bossy initially. Although she exagerated her words a little above the line, than was actually required. But maybe that was due to her loud voice unlike me, that she was gifted with.

Having no experience other than blogging, my confidence was whatsoever shaky. I showed her my sample article which I had carried along. She read it. Was she impressed? Sitting there in the interview cabin, I would say ‘yes maybe she was impressed’. But today, I would say ‘no’. Not because I had written something filthy. It was because she was not the kind of person who would ever get impressed.

My interview went well. I waited for two days until I got an official call from her asking me to join after two days.

Next day, I gathered all my required documents and got them attested. And finally waited for the sun to rise. A sense of newness surrounded me. As a person who always has a tendency to get nervous on meeting new people, i kept on wondering how my first day would go. I had never seen an office. I had no idea how people work. I had not given a thought on the fact that colleagues can never be friends like we had in college.

With lots of thoughts crossing my mind, I reached office at sharp 10 am. To my surprise no one had arrived except Harsh who was renamed as DJ Harsh by other colleagues because of his intense love for music and the lovely collection of old Bollywood songs that he played throughout the day. He warmly greeted me and pulled a vacant chair and asked me to wait. Soon the woman who took my interview stepped in and surprised me by bombarding that she was my team leader (TL as she proudly liked to flaunt). Oh what does that mean? I asked myself. What would be her role? I waited for time to answer that. Later i realised, probably she too was confused regarding her role.

Soon every one arrived and she introduced me to each one of them. I smiled forcingly as every one was smiling at me. I was the new girl in their office. And for me everyone was new. For few days, I didn’t look at any of their faces because of my unique personality disorder as i would like to call. For weeks I didn’t talk to anyone. I kept to myself. Not because I didn’t like them, but because I didn’t know what to talk. I even skipped few lunch breaks to avoid the huge gang of my male colleagues in the canteen which I found intimidating. But everybody there, was too kind to me. And gradually i was the part of their gang. Because someone was there offering tasty sandwiches during breakfast, someone was there who would wait until I packed up to accompany me till the metro station after the office hours and someone was there to ensure I never had lunch alone. These were the little moments upon which we bonded and which made me a part of them.

My three months at my workplace was not the way I had imagined. It was smooth at the start but touched a rough pace only to get worse in the end. Today it’s been 10 days since I got fired by the same woman I got hired. And it’s been 7 days since I left the company, it’s notice period, my experience letter and my one month’s salary. Because sometimes it’s not about money. It’s about your self worth. It’s about your self respect. And at the end of the day, none but you are answerable to your heart. Answerable to all that unnecessary pain that you’ve burdened your heart with when you have millions of opportunities waiting at your doorstep.

Today I am happy and relieved. Because when one door closes, the better one opens. I used to hear stories of people getting fired and wondered how it feels like. Now at least, I can describe that exact feeling. Its humiliating but sometimes it’s also liberating. Liberating from all those insults that you face each day from your so called TL. It made me think maybe I am not giving my 100%. But thanks to one of my colleague turned friend, who taught me that if you think you are not giving your 100%, you can never progress. But sometimes, your 100% doesn’t match the expectations of the other person. Or maybe if it does, they are too proud to accept. And it happens, like one of my colleagues used to say every time I had a bad day.

I do not regret my days during my first job. It instilled confidence in me and prepared me for the worst. And most importantly, in a world that is heading towards lethal addictions, I am amazed to meet such people addicted to creativity. In a world that is turning brutally selfish every second, I am grateful to meet people who support you selflessly, imbibe confidence in you, motivate you and make you realise your worth.

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